If the automotive industry relies too heavily on battery-electric drives, it is rather counterproductive for the environment. This is the result of the Association of German Engineers (VDI) in a new study. Rather, the CO 2 targets for 2030 could only go through a “complementary cooperation of the technologies” can be achieved, explains VDI President Dr.-Ing. Volker Kefer.

In view of the entire value chain, modern vehicles with internal combustion engines are often even more polluting than electric vehicles, sums up the VDI in his study “Life cycle assessment of cars with different drive systems”, which heise is online. For battery-electric drives, the energy and material costs in production are currently very high.

Battery recycling ” Successful and energy-saving battery recycling is the key to success, which it is imperative to promote, as this is currently not practiced on an industrial scale, “explains Dr.-Ing. Ralf Marquard from VDI. The study also recommends that battery cell production be quickly relocated from China to Europe. This would have a positive effect on CO 2 emissions. The reasons for this are shorter transport routes and the coal-heavy electricity mix in China.

Therefore, it is important for the VDI not to rely solely on battery vehicles, but also on fuel cells and modern combustion engines with more environmentally friendly fuels such as gas or to further strengthen synthetic fuels.

According to VDI, combustion engine drives absolutely require CO 2 – reduced Fuels. The advantage of using them is that they can use the existing infrastructure. When it comes to battery drives, the VDI “focuses on the introduction of NMC 622 cells and their development NMC 811 – cells with significantly reduced cobalt requirement and up to 50 Percent improvement potential with regard to the gravimetric energy density “.

Hybridization For all drive concepts, efficiency is essential for the desired CO 2 – neutral Mobility is. “All concepts will benefit from the hybridization of the drives if the advantages are successfully combined”, says the VDI.

The VDI has the CO 2 for the study – Emissions of the internal combustion engine, fuel cell and battery drive systems from the generation of the raw materials through the production and use phase to recycling viewed from the perspective of 2020 with a view to the year 2030. Hybrid drives were not included. Various data sources were taken into account, including from previous studies and databases.

Electric cars in Germany (70 Photos) Volkswagen has been delivering since September 2020 with the ID.3 launched the first electric car of its major offensive in the e-sector.

(Image: heise Autos) The VDI study follows a number of others that recently became the subject of another study by the TU-Eindhoven. This had determined that the greenhouse gas emissions were exaggerated during the production of the battery.

(anw)